Known electrical connectors transfer electrical currents, voltages, signals, and data with a large bandwidth of currents, voltages, frequencies, and data rates. In low, medium, or high voltage or current ranges, and in particular in the automotive industry, such connectors must guarantee the transfer of electrical power, signals, and data in hot, contaminated, humid, or chemically aggressive environments. Due to the large range of applications, a large number of specifically configured connectors are known.
Known electrical connectors throughout the range of applications have housings assembled with an electrical member, such as an electrical cable or a circuit board of an electrical component, for mating with a mating electrical connector. An electrical connector must reliably secure an electrical contact within the housing for connecting to the electrical member. Furthermore, the electrical connector must reliably transmit electrical signals, and consequently, known electrical connectors have fasteners for releasably fastening to the mating electrical connector.
Electrical connectors used for charging electric vehicles require electrical contacts to transmit an electric current of approximately 32 A at outside temperatures of approximately −30° C. to approximately +50° C. and at a peak electric voltage of approximately 500 V. The service life of these charging connectors must be at least 10 to 15 years, wherein, depending on the environment (moisture, sand, salt etc.), it should be possible to carry out 10,000 to 20,000 plug connection cycles. In known charging connectors, in order to realize this number of plug connection cycles with low contact resistances, the contacts of the charging connectors have to be coated, which increases the manufacturing cost of the contacts.